March 21, 2010
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech Women’s Tennis team earned a hard fought 4-3 victory over No. 17 Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
With the win, the 36th-ranked Yellow Jackets improved to 9-5 overall, while Vanderbilt fell to 7-6 with the loss. Georgia Tech knocked off its second Top-20 opponent in as many days, as the Jackets beat No. 12 Georgia, 5-2 on Saturday.
“Our team has had to go through so much adversity so early in the season, so to be able to come back with two quality wins over Top-20 opponents, it’s a great thing,” head coach Bryan Shelton said. “I’m very proud of the girls.”
Irina Falconi and Lynn Blau opened the day by earning their third straight victory since being paired together with an 8-2 win over Rachel Dillon and Erica Robertson on court two but Tech failed to gain the doubles point with losses on courts one and three.
Falconi, the nation’s top-ranked singles player, tied the score at 1-1 after quickly taking care of No. 38 Catherine Newman, 6-2, 6-1.
The Commodores Chelsea Preeg would answer back with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Sasha Krupina on court two to push Vanderbilt ahead, 2-1.
The Jackets would tie the score once again as Viet Ha Ngo defeated Keilly Elery, 7-5, 7-5, from the third spot in the lineup but it would not last long after Dillon finished off Blau, 7-6, 6-4, at No. 4 singles.
Freshman Elizabeth Kilborn came through at No. 5 singles with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Robertson to knot the match a 3-3.
The match came was decided at number six singles, where sophomore Hillary Davis came from behind to beat Vanderbilt’s Hannah Blatt 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. For Davis, the win marked the second straight day that she clinched a win for the Yellow Jackets.
“Hat’s off to Hillary for going out there and clinching the match for us once again,” continued Shelton. “It’s not the easiest thing to do against as tough of competition as she’s seen the last two days. So, we’re very excited about that.”
The Yellow Jackets will continue the busiest portion of its schedule when it travels to No. 13 Miami Wednesday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center beginning at 1 p.m. Tech will then return home for a two-game homestand over the weekend against Wake Forest Saturday and NC State Sunday. Both matches at the Bill Moore Tennis Center will begin at noon.
